Flash-light photographic apparatus.



C. D. ALLEN.

FLASH LIGHT PHOTOGRAPHIU APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 3, 1912.

1,076,091. Patented 0151;. 21, 1913.

Q/vi/Mmo: M vvvewto'g CHARLES n. ALLEN, or NEW roan, n. Y.

FLASH-LIGHT PHOTOGRAPHIC APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed June 3, 1912. Serial No. 701,115.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES D. ALLEN, a citizen of the United States, and residing at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Flash- Light Photographic Apparatus, of which the following is a specification, such as will enable those skilled in the art to which it app'ertains to make and usethe same.

- nying drawing forms a part, said draw ng being a diagrammatic view of my improved apparatus, and showing parts of the construction in section.

In the practice of my invention, I provide what is known as a flash light bag a which may be suspended from any suitable support by means of cords or other devices 6, or said bag may be otherwise supported, and is provided with an open folding bottom a which is closed, in practice, by a cord 0 or in any other way. Within the bag a is a transverse rod d from which is suspended a flash pan (Z on which is placed an electric blasting :fusee d over which the flash powder 03 is placed and the fusee is provided with circuit wires d and a? which extend through the bottom of the bag when said bottom is closed. I also provide a casing e which is adapted to be held in one hand and one end of which is closed by a plug 6 having binding posts 6 and e, and said plug is provided with spring terminal arms 6 and e which are connected respectively with the posts 6 and c, and said plug e may be held in or secured in the casing e by a binding screw, or in any other way. The inner ends of the terminal arms e and 6" are provided with contact heads 6 and 0 and the head a of the contact arm 6 rests on an expansible bag while the position of the head of the arm a may be adjusted by means of a set communicating therewith is a tube 9 which may be held in the casing e or secured therein in any desired manner, and which is pro Vided with a nozzle 9 which projects through the closedend of said casing and with which is connected an ordinary air bulb h with which is connected a flexible tube k which is also connected with the shutter i of the camera, in the usual manner. The shutter 2' may be of any. preferred construction, but is preferably what is known as a bulls eye shutter, and the shutter blades 2' thereof are opened and closed by the compression of the bulb h. I also pro vide a battery 7' which is of small voltage, and which may be carried in the pocket, if desired, and this batteryis provided with .a wire 7' which is connected with the bind- Patented Oct. 21, 1913,

screw f Connected with the bag f and ing post 0 of the casing e, and with another circuit wire which is connected with the circuit wire at of the fusee 4F, and another circuit wire is connects the binding post e with the circuit Wire 01 of said fusee d The casing e is small and may be carried in a pocket, and the entire apparatuswith the exception of the bag a and the camera may also be carried in a pocket.

The operation will be readily understood, from the foregoing description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawingand the following statement thereof.

- The bag a may be suspended at any point,

in a room, office, compartment or hall, where it is desired to take a flash light picture, and the circuit wires having been connected, and the tube 7& having been connected with the camera the casing c and bulb h are grasped in the hand and pressure is applied to said bulb. This pressure expands the bag f, and this expansion of the bagf closes the circuit, the terminals of which are formed by the arms 0 and e, and a circuit is completed through the fused, and the flash light is produced, and instantaneously with this production -'of the light and at the moment. when said light is most intense the shutter of the camera is openedand an exposure made.

I am aware that apparatus somewhat similar to this have heretofore been made, but in all of said apparatus, the opening. of

the shutter has 'not been and cannot be timed so as to correspond withthe production ofthe maximum light, but withmy improvement this timing of the opening of the shutter with the point of time at which the maximum of light is produced is made exact. The screw f controls the distance between the two terminal spring arms 6 and c and thereby controls the distance through which the arm 6 must move, and thus controls the time required for the closing of the circuit, and by means of this construction the circuit closing device may be operated for the taking of pictures in onefifth of a second or faster, as one-fiftieth or one-two hundred and fiftieth of a second.

It will be understood that with my improved apparatus the smoke produced by the flash light is contained in the bag a, and this smoke may be discharged from said bag through a window or otherwise after the operation of producing the light, and this, as will be understood, prevents the filling of the room, compartment or hall, in which the picture is taken with the smoke and disagreeable odors produced by the explosion.

The bag a may be compactly rolled up or folded up into convenient form for packing, carrying or shippingpurposes, but the details of the construction' of this bag are not claimed herein, as they will form the subject of a'separate application, which I intend to file, and it will be understood, that the casing e described and claimed herein, may be used with any kind or class of a spring arm terminals which extend into said casing and which are connected with said posts, an expansible bag placed between the free end of one of said terminals and the adjacent wall of the casing and adapted to force said terminal into contact with the free end of the other terminal, a screw passing through one side of the casing and bearing on the free end of said other terminal and adapted to adjust the position thereof, and a tube communicating with said bag and extending through the end of said casing opposite that closed by said plug.

In testimony that I claim' the foregoing as my invention I have signed my name in presence of the subscribing witnesses this 28th day of May 1912.

CHARLES D. ALLEN. Witnesses:

C. MULREANY, S. ANDREWS. 

